Perhaps his greatest contribution to the field was his groundbreaking research into patterns of migration in east Africa. He was an original and empirical thinker, and his work on the economics of recycling and “upcycling” in east Africa in the 1950s also provided a rich seam of interest, long before western economies had begun to turn their attention to the issue.

Another highly original piece of research resulted in The East African Trade in Woodcarvings, published in the late 1950s and probably the first article by an economist on the subject. Subsidiary interests included research into methods of financing museums, for which he received a British Academy award.

He was born in Hamburg. His father, Hans Septimus Elkan, was a businessman and his mother, Maud (nee Barden), an avid pianist. Fleeing from nazism, he arrived in England in 1938; his mother and siblings also came to Britain, but at different times; his father had died previously.

He studied at Frensham Heights school in Farnham, Surrey, then the London School of Economics, where he obtained his undergraduate degree and PhD. His field – economics, with a special interest in African economies and patterns of labour – led to a lectureship at Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda and subsequently to chairs at Durham and Brunel universities, as well as periods at MIT and Northwestern University in the US and the Institute for Development Studies in Nairobi, Kenya.

Walter, who retired as professor of economics at Brunel in 1987, had a lifelong love of music and art – the latter despite being colour-blind – and played the violin regularly in chamber music groups until he was 90. His spiritual home was the Wigmore Hall in London, which he continued to attend as a keen concertgoer until shortly before his death.

Throughout his life he went out of his way to help and support people in need, in particular those fleeing from repressive regimes. He had a great gift for making friends on every possible occasion.

He is survived by his partner of many years, Anne Eames, as well as three children – David, Ruth and me – from his marriage to Susan Milne (nee Jacobs), which ended in divorce in 1982, and five grandchildren.